2020 NCAA Preview: 197 lbs.
2019 All-Americans in Bold, Qualifiers in Italics
| Northeast 1 | Wagner | Coast Guard | 19-3 |
| Northeast 2 | Wrzesien | JWU | 26-10 |
| Northeast 3 | La Corte | NYU | 16-6 |
| Mideast 1 | Haddad | TCNJ | 24-4 |
| Mideast 2 | Colestock | Muhlenberg | 33-2 |
| Mideast 3 | Donohue | RIT | 17-7 |
| Southeast 1 | Dooley | Stevens | 25-2 |
| Southeast 2 | Ellis | Alvernia | 29-9 |
| Southeast 3 | Homsey | Ferrum | 32-10 |
| Central 1 | Lehman | Baldwin Wallace | 30-4 |
| Central 2 | Thompson | Ohio Northern | 29-8 |
| Central 3 | Pingel | Adrian | 30-4 |
| Lower Midwest 1 | Mehmen | Coe | 23-1 |
| Lower Midwest 2 | Patron | Loras | 21-0 |
| Lower Midwest 3 | Hagerbaumer | Millikin | 22-6 |
| Upper Midwest 1 | Lahr | La Crosse | 18-3 |
| Upper Midwest 2 | Benick | Augsburg | 5-2 |
| Upper Midwest 3 | Zierden | Concordia-Moorhead | 22-10 |
The defending champion Lance Benick of Augsburg is just 5-2 this season. Neither of the wrestlers he lost to qualified, and he has not competed against anyone in this year’s field. Guy Patron, the top ranked wrestler from Loras, is undefeated this year. He was 3rd, 2nd, and 6th at this tournament the past three years. He has a pin over the 2nd ranked Mehmen who beat Patron in the 5th place match last season. Patron forfeited the regional final to Mehmen. Zeckary Lehman of Baldwin Wallace is the fourth All-American in the bracket. He won the Central region and hopes to improve on his 8th place finish last season.
Both Northeast finalists qualified last year, though Tommy Wrzesien of JWU was at 285 in 2019. Jonathan Wagner of Coast Guard won the region, and his only matches against other qualifiers are in-region. Quinn Haddad of TCNJ and Isaac Lahr of La Crosse both won their region finals by forfeit. Haddad has a loss to Southeast champ Michael Dooley of Stevens who lost to Wrzesien but has wins over four other qualifiers. Lahr has a few wins in the tournament along with a pin over last year’s 3rd place finisher who missed the second half of the season.
Johnson & Wales swapped their 285 and 197 from last year, and both have qualified again. Tommy Wrzesien lost both his matches at 285, while Michael DiNardo finished in the round of 12 at 197. Both will be in contention to place in Cedar Rapids.